10 Wedding Photography Frequently Asked Questions

Ottawa Wedding Photography Blog

Over the years, I’ve had many couples ask me many different questions. So, I decided to answer the top 10 wedding photography frequently asked questions.

1) Will we get you as our actual wedding photographer?

Of course. I’ll happily be the photographer for any weddings that I book. I’m not a big studio contracting out weddings to other photographers to shoot. I don’t operate a bait and switch operation. I’m a small business owner. If you hire me you’ll get me as your main photographer as well as a second professional photographer. I work with a couple of gals who shoot for various wedding photographers, so one of those ladies will be my 2nd shooter on your wedding day.

2) What is your photography style?

I get this question quite a bit, so here goes: I’m a natural light photographer. My style is a mixture of traditional and journalistic style photos. My second shooter gets lots of candid shots. I also love to photograph detail shots (your bouquet, shoes, hair, rings, table settings, etc.) It’s probably best to check out my wedding and engagement photography portfolios to see if they’re the sort of photos that you envision yourselves in. If you do, I would love to hear from you. If not, perhaps I’m not the right photographer for you.

3) What’s included in your wedding photography packages?

All of my wedding photography packages include:

two professional photographers

a USB of fully edited, high resolution photos

a complimentary engagement photo session with digital files.

4) What do you require for us to book you.

Here’s a true story: I’ve actually had it happen twice with some cowardly couples (instead of just telling me that I’m not the right fit for them or that they’ll, “think about it”), they actually signed contracts with me and told me that they’d send me the retainer later and then I never heard from them again. Thus, I don’t consider myself booked until I receive a signed contract and the paid retainer. Once those two details are taken care of, I won’t book any other weddings on your wedding date. This helps to give wiggle room in case you need to change the times of when you need me to shoot on that day.

5) Will you hold our wedding date?

As I stated before, I don’t consider myself booked until I receive the signed contract and the retainer. I gotta be honest; it’s first come, first served. If someone else inquires about the same wedding date and they’re ready to sign, while you’re humming and hawing about if you want to go with me, I’ll sign with them since they’re more eager to work with me. I want my couples to be excited to work with me because I’m excited to work with them. With that said, I will give you a heads up that I’m meeting with another couple who have the same wedding date, so you have the option to sign with me before I meet them.

6) Can we have more coverage or get a discount if we don’t use the engagement photo session?

Since it’s a complimentary session, it means that I never actually charged you any money to include it in your wedding photography package. So, it has zero cash value and can’t be used as credit towards more photography coverage, products or discounts. I use the engagement photo session as an opportunity of getting to know you better before the big day so that it’ll be less awkward for you to smile for me. AND it’s also to see how I need to shoot you on your wedding day, since everyone is different & may have some quirks. Think of it as a trial run of photographing you for your wedding day. 🙂

7) Can we have a discount if we only want one photographer, instead of two?

I used to shoot by myself up until 2012. However, since making the switch to working with a second shooter, I’ll never go back to just shooting by myself. I prefer to work with another photographer for several reasons. First, I like the fact that she can get lots of candid shots as the day unfolds, even when I’m busy shooting the formal portraits. Secondly, it’s so much easier to shoot getting ready photos of the bride and groom at the same time because I shoot the bride getting ready and she shoots the groom and groomsmen getting ready.

Thirdly, I love getting a different perspective of the same event. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised when I see my second shooter’s take on various aspects of the wedding day because I didn’t think to shoot it that way myself. Also, sometimes one of us will have a better view of what is happening (ie. during the ceremony or speeches). Finally, think of it as a fail safe. If for some reason my memory cards failed (knock on wood) and I lost all or some of the photos that I had taken with my cameras, rest assured that the second shooter will have many photos of your wedding day.

8) How many wedding photos do we end up getting on our USB?

That depends on how many hours of coverage you have hired me for. I tell clients that they will receive approximately 50-100 photos per hour. If you end up hiring me for eight hours, you’ll receive between 400-800 photos. With that said, I try to stick with quality or quantity, so I try not to give more than 850 photos. As a bride myself, I received over 1100 photos. I got married almost seven years ago and to this day my husband and I still have not looked at all of our wedding photos because there were just too many. At first, we tried to view them as a slide show, but then stopped it because it just went on and on and on. Instead, we uploaded them onto our computer and chose ones that looked good as we skimmed through them.

9) Can we have the RAW files and do our own editing to get a discount?

10) What camera do you have?

I shoot digital and use two Nikon bodies as well as various Nikkor lenses: 50mm, 60mm macro, 85mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm. The second shooters that I work with also have their own professional grade cameras and lenses that they use. Don’t worry, even if you don’t understand anything about the equipment that I’m talking about, just know that you’re in good hands and that your photos will turn out beautifully.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I hope that this has helped answer some or all of your questions that you had about my photography services. 🙂

As an Ottawa wedding photographer, I love shooting portraits and weddings. My photography has been featured on 30+ photography websites. If you like my work, I would love to hear all about your wedding plans. Contact me today to book a consultation. 🙂